The Gospel of Buddha

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The Gospel of Buddha was an 1894 book by Paul Carus. It was modeled on the New Testament and told the story of Buddha through parables. It was an important tool in introducing Buddhism to the West and is used as a teaching tool by some Asian sects. Carus believed that the modern world required a new Religion of Science. By the 1890s, inspired by the meetings and conversations at the Parliament of the World's Religions in 1893, he had decided that Buddhism was the closest faith to his ideal and created The Gospel of Buddha to popularize the religion in the West. The work was assembled from existing English translations of Buddhists texts, with significant amendments and reworkings. His selection of texts favored Buddhism as a philosophy without any supernatural elements. This interpretation proved popular in the West, with a number of reprintings. It also influenced the development of Buddhist modernism in East Asia.

Paul Carus, born on 8 July 1852, was a German-American author, editor, a student of comparative religion, and philosopher. Carus was educated at the universities of Strassburg and Tübingen, Germany. After obtaining his PhD from Tübingen in 1876, he served in the army and then taught at school. He left Bismarck's Imperial Germany for the United States. In the USA, he lived in Chicago and in LaSalle, Illinois. He married Edward C. Hegeler's daughter Mary (Marie). In the United States, Carus briefly edited a German-language journal and wrote several articles for the Index. Soon after, he became the first managing editor of the Open Court Publishing Company, founded in 1887 by his father-in-law. In that role, he corresponded with and published the works of leaders in the fields of mathematics, philosophy, world religions, and related disciplines. During his lifetime, Carus published 75 books and 1500 articles, mostly through Open Court Publishing Company.

THIS booklet needs no preface for him who is familiar with the sacred books of Buddhism, which have been made accessible to the Western world by the indefatigable zeal and industry of scholars like Burnouf, Hodgson, Bigandet, Bühler, Foucaux, Se nart, Weber, Fausböll, Alexander Csoma, Wassiljew, Rhys Davids, F. Max Müller, Childers, Oldenberg, Schiefner, Eitel, Beal, and Spence Hardy. To those not familiar with the subject it may be stated that the bulk of its contents is derived from the old Buddhist canon. Many passages, and indeed the most important ones, are literally copied from the translations of the original texts. Some are rendered rather freely in order to make them intelligible to the present generation. Others have been rearranged; still others are abbreviated. Besides the three introductory and the three concluding chapters there are only a few purely original additions, which, however, are neither mere literary embellishments nor deviations from Buddhist doctrines. They contain nothing but ideas for which prototypes can be found somewhere among the traditions of Buddhism, and have been added as elucidations of its main principles. For those who want to trace the Buddhism of this book to its fountain head a table of reference has been added, which indicates as briefly as possible the main sources of the various chapters and points out the parallelisms with Western thought, especially in the Christian Gospels.

REJOICE at the glad tidings! Buddha, our Lord, has found the root of all evil. He has shown us the way of salvation.
Buddha dispels the illusions of our minds and redeems us from the terrors of death.
Buddha, our Lord, brings comfort to the weary and sorrow-laden; he restores peace to those who are broken down under the burden of life. He gives cour age to the weak when they would fain give up self reliance and hope.
Ye that suffer from the tribulations of life, ye that have to struggle and endure, ye that yearn for a life of truth, rejoice at the glad tidings!
There is balm for the wounded, and there is bread for the hungry. There is water for the thirsty, and there is hope for the despairing. There is light for those in darkness, and there is inexhaustible blessing for the upright.
Heal your wounds, ye wounded, and eat your fill, ye hungry. Rest, ye weary, and ye who are thirsty quench your thirst. Look up to the light, ye that sit in darkness; be full of good cheer, ye that are for lorn.